BUFFALOGreat Shaggy ManeMoves across the plain,Horns lowered, eating grass,Moving slowly, lets life passFeels the calm that silence brings…Listens while the cricket sings–Peace, an endless flowing river–Reverence that goes on forever;

But sensitive to Inner Reasons,Bison migrates with the seasons,Knowing when it’s time to goWith Mother Nature’s ebb and flow…

Did you know that an American bison, weighing in at a ton or more, can jump as high as six feet? They can run at speeds of up to 40 mph or 65 kmph as well. Able to jump a standard height barbed wire fence, this is not our docile domesticated ox (what we call “cows”); however, I strongly suspect that the ox, before domestication had a similar strength and willpower as the Bison (usually inaccurately called “buffalo.”) Even so, the bovine family are known for their generally peaceful natures. It’s hard to get one of them angry but if you do, watch out!

In The Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams and David Carson, we learn that “Because of it’s desire to give the gifts that it’s body provided, and because of its willingness to be used on Earth for the highest good before entering the hunting grounds of spirit, Buffalo did not readily stampede and run from hunters.”

To many North American tribes, Buffalo was the medicine of prayer and abundance. Although they believed that all animals are sacred, White Buffalo was considered the most sacred and when it appeared, a sign that prayers were being answered.

The legend of White Buffalo Calf Woman tells how she brought the gift of the Medicine pipe to the Lakota tribe. The pipe bowl represented the feminine aspect of life. The pipe stem represented the masculine entering and seeding the feminine. Natural Tobacco, an herb with both masculine and feminine energies, represented connection to the divine energy of the Great Mystery in the coming together of male and female. The smoke rising from the pipe when used in this time-honored way is prayer made visible as it ascends to Great Spirit.

“The medicine of Buffalo is prayer, gratitude and praise for that which has been received. Buffalo medicine is also knowing that abundance is present when all relations are honored as sacred, and when gratitude is expressed to every living part of creation.” –The Medicine CardsJamie Sams & David Carson

Not quite the way we tend to think of “cows,” is it? And yet when you penetrate to the essence of the astrological symbolism for the sign of Taurus, it’s obvious that the Celtic ancestors experienced Oxen in much the same way as the North American tribes experience buffalo.

Peacefulness, filled with reverence and gratitude; self assurance coming from worry-free management of resources which creates abundance and prosperity. These are all attributes of a person whose nature is strongly influenced by this sign in a positive way.

Where could the downside of this archetype even be, we might ask?

Well, you could think of what happened in the slaughter of the buffalo…

The demise or imprisonment of North American Plains tribes on reservations was accomplished as their principle food supply disappeared. Gluttony and greed burned at fever pitch while thousands upon thousands of buffalo were shot and skinned to make winter coats to be sold in the cities, creating the fortunes (if you call that a “fortune”) of the European hunters.

From 1873 for a decade, it’s estimated that commercial hide hunting outfits killed from 2,000 to 100,000 animals a day. The slaughter of the buffalo, who are considered a keystone species, left the prairie ecosystem sadly off kilter. The coming of the railroad, dividing up of the land and unsustainable farming methods all led to the Dust Bowl storms of the 1930’s.

Old timers remember such things as chickens roosting at midday because dust storms made the sky so dark the chickens thought it was night; or a truck being blown 30 to 40 feet down a street! Not to mention it being impossible to keep houses clean… ﻿http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/index.html﻿

Or you can think about fracking, clear cutting etc. (remembering that each of us has Taurus represented somewhere in our chart.)

So we can conclude that someone strongly influenced by Taurus energy could, on the negative side, experience being caught up in materialistic concerns at the expense of emotional and spiritual considerations; would be overlooking the experience of gratitude for what has been given in focusing on what they don’t have; could be indulging in hoarding and gluttony and in so doing, working themselves to death, possibly misusing a natural gift of tremendous physical strength; or could be just plain lazy, leeching off the efforts of others. In considering the negative aspect of this sign we could also consider one of history’s most infamous Taureans, Adolph Hitler, a leader who came to power at a time when the people of his country felt poor and needy.

But let’s reel back to the positive side, the essence, of all of this again.

Isn’t gratitude, I mean genuine GRATITUDE, one of the most beautiful of all human experiences? And the simple, uncomplicated state of REVERENCE for life?

And doesn't this attitude lead to true abundance?

Relaxing in an unspoiled natural environment, or perhaps listening to beautiful music, dancing, eating delicious and nutritious food, touching and being touched sensitively and lovingly, reveling in the sensual pleasure of love-making, acquiring all the necessary resources to support all of these activities, these are the things thata balanced Taurus does.

In this case, what a nice calm, artistic, self-assured and re-assuring, patient, forgiving person to be around, eh? Am I lucky to be married to one of these creatures or what!

Let me leave you now, with this poem from the Medicine Cards.

Buffalo… You bring us, The gifts of life.

Hear our prayers, Smoke rising Like Phoenix,

We are reborn, Within the sacred words.

– Jamie Sams and David Carson

Recommended reading:Medicine Cards – book and cards by Jamie Sams and David Carson, available from AmazonBuffalo Woman Comes Singing by Brooke Medicine Eagle, available from Amazon. You’ll find a deeply inspiring version of the legend of White Buffalo Calf Woman in this book.

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LARK was born and grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa and came to Canada at the age of eighteen to study at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. A lifetime traveler, and a singer-song writer, she has lived on four continents and in nine countries including the USA, the Czech Republic and China. It has given her many opportunities to pursue her passion—studying people.

Western Astrology came into her life in 1973 through a group of friends running a natural foods restaurant. Her first reaction was, “You’ve gotta be kidding!” But since she was already naturally curious about people’s personalities, it didn’t take long for her to become intrigued with the subject.